Our Community

Baystate Health's Community Benefits Mission is to reduce health disparities, promote community wellness and improve access to care for vulnerable populations.

“Creating an inclusive workplace in which all are engagedand committed to providing culturally competent patient-centered care is vital to our mission.We set out to improve the health of our communities every day, with quality and compassion. Recently, we askedemployees what makes Baystate Health a special place to work and hundreds responded that our compassion, our diversity, our standards for excellence, and the uniting of our talents help us deliver a higher state of caring. ”

At Baystate Health, we understand that good health transcends medicine. For each of us, and our communities, health is a complex sum of genetics, environment, opportunity, and life choices. That is why our commitment to improving the health of our communities extends beyond the walls of our hospitals and into the homes, schools and neighborhoods of the communities we serve.

Commitment to Healthier Communities

Baystate Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Maintaining and enhancing trusting partnerships within the community furthers our commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable members of our community. We extend the traditional definition of “health” to include economic opportunity, affordable housing, education, safe neighborhoods, the arts, and supporting and valuing diversity – all elements that enable families and communities to thrive.

In keeping with this commitment to improve health, Baystate Health provides many valuable services, resources, programs and financial support – beyond the walls of the hospitals and into the communities and homes of the people we serve; including various community benefit programs, sponsorships of more than 200 non-profit community organizations and events and involvement of Baystate leadership with over 70 community boards that align with the mission of Baystate Health.

Community Benefits

Baystate Health includes three not-for-profit hospitals that have a responsibility to respond to health care needs unsupported by government programs. In exchange for this responsibility, Baystate qualifies for tax-exempt status under §501(c)(3). However, providing hospital care alone is not enough to qualify for tax-exempt status. Hospitals also must operate in the public interest and provide community benefit programs.

A community benefit program responds to specific health needs of a particular group of community members identified through a community health needs assessment process with the active collaboration of community members.

The objectives of community benefit programs are to:

Improve access to health services

Enhance population health

Advance knowledge

Demonstrate charitable purpose/relieve government burden

Out of the Hospitals, into the Neighborhood

Baystate Health understands that many state and federally mandated community benefit programs are not sufficient to address ethnic, racial and economic health disparities. By partnering with the community, Baystate Health helps address the diverse and sometimes critical health needs within western Massachusetts communities.

Baystate’s engagement with the community has increasingly expanded out of the hospital and into homes, schools, community organizations and neighborhoods. Baystate Health recognizes the needs of the poorest and most at risk community members, and supports these groups by giving voice to neighborhoods struggling to cope with health disparities and a lack of educational and economic opportunities. Citizens in some of the most challenged areas of the community are working in partnership with Baystate Health to take charge of their family’s and their neighborhoods’ future health.